<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>They Shed a Sweet Light to Remind Us of Days Long Ago by trashofalltrades</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28136901">They Shed a Sweet Light to Remind Us of Days Long Ago</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashofalltrades/pseuds/trashofalltrades'>trashofalltrades</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>'Tis the Damn Season [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Booker discovers a lot of Hanukkah music, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hanukkah, Intense dreidel competition, Jewish Booker, Jewish Booker | Sebastian le Livre, Mild Angst, Post-Canon, Team as Family, references to assimilation and anti-semitism</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:09:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,944</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28136901</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashofalltrades/pseuds/trashofalltrades</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Well, do you want to risk it and do anything with all of us this year?” Nile asked once she recovered. “We could at least play some Hanukkah music since that can’t catch on fire.”<br/>He smiled at her. “If that means having to hear any of you serenade me with ‘I Have a Little Dreidel’ I think I’ll pass.”<br/>“No no no. I mean, we will definitely do that, but there’s whole playlists online we could use.”<br/> </p>
<p>in which Nile discovers Booker is Jewish and immediately sends him a playlist of cheesy Hanukkah music, Booker realizes trying to observe holidays all on his own may not be the best way to do things, and the team plays the dreidel game of the century.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Andy | Andromache &amp; Booker | Sebastien &amp; Nile Freeman &amp; Joe | Yusuf &amp; Nicky | Nicolò &amp; Quynh, Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Booker | Sebastien le Livre &amp; Nile Freeman, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>'Tis the Damn Season [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2072913</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>78</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>They Shed a Sweet Light to Remind Us of Days Long Ago</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Jewish Booker has become one of my new favorite headcannons after reading <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26608969">this gorgeous fic</a>  by AnnabelleVeal, and so clearly I had to write a Jewish Booker fic for the end of Hanukkah. If you want a more serious deep dive into Booker's faith as a whole I highly recommend reading theirs!</p>
<p>This fic is set in a near-ish future where the entire team is recently all back together, Booker having done enough personal growing and healing to no longer be exiled. Content warnings for vague references to historical anti-Semitism and assimilation, as well as feeling sad around the holidays. I'm happy to add tags, and since my experience is far from the only Jewish experience, happy to make corrections. A list of the songs I included and historical references will be in the end notes.</p>
<p>Thanks to ChimaeraKitten for beta reading and listening to me scream about Jewish Booker at 3:00am!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Would you two knock it off already” Andy called, looking over her shoulder to glare at Joe and Nicky in the kitchen.</p>
<p>Booker snorted from his spot on the couch, legs stretched out in front of him and the late afternoon sun helping illuminate the book in his lap. Nile was curled up on the other end, half paying attention to the random documentary they had picked to watch and half chatting with Andy and Quỳnh who were spread out on the floor nearby cleaning their weapons and repacking supplies after the previous day’s mission.</p>
<p>Nicky and Joe were<em> supposed</em> to be figuring out dinner plans and making a list of groceries to get during their supply run so they could hunker down in the safe house for a few days. Yet based on the amount of laughter and shit talking they had heard coming from the kitchen for the past few minutes they were not at all focused on the task. If he understood the blend of at least three different languages correctly, they were arguing about which kind of takeout was superior and whether the takeout place Nicky wanted to get for dinner from that night even existed anymore or if it was the one that had gone out of business a few decades ago.</p>
<p>“If you can’t agree then you’re welcome to try to make something edible out whatever canned goods from the 80s are still in the pantry,” she continued, grinning at them before turning back around.</p>
<p>“Fine,” Joe sighed. “Nicky, light of my life, I will simply allow you to be wrong.” Before Nicky could start arguing again, he grabbed a pen and started making a list. “Any grocery requests?” he called out.</p>
<p>Nile and Andy replied with a variety of snacks and alcohol, Quỳnh occasionally piping in with reminders of staples they actually needed.</p>
<p>“Anything else? Booker is there anything you’ll need for Hanukkah?”</p>
<p>“As long as we have oil, I’m good,” he said, briefly glancing up to see Joe nod in acknowledgment, sliding the list over to Nicky to look over it.</p>
<p>Across from him Nile’s head snapped up and she gaped at him. “Hold up. You’re <em>Jewish</em>?”</p>
<p>“Yes…” he started, trying to judge the tone of her question.</p>
<p>She paused for a moment, as if she was expecting him to be joking and then threw her hands up shaking her head at him and then Andy. “How did I not know that?”  What the hell! Andy? Why didn’t any of you tell me?”</p>
<p>“It never came up?” Andy shrugged.</p>
<p>“Yeah, but that’s pretty basic info to have about a family member!” She shook her head again before letting out a little laugh. “Sorry Booker. Happy early Hanukkah I guess?”</p>
<p>He smiled. “It’s fine. In your defense, it’s not like I’ve ever been extremely devout around you. And I never pulled the equivalent of a Nicky and became a rabbi.”</p>
<p>If he was being honest, he had <em>never</em> been extremely devout. Before his first death it had been easier to just start assimilating. The French National Assembly may have, after much debate, allowed Jews to be citizens, but they were expected to give up cultural distinctiveness and autonomy in return. Then Napoleon came along and decided to simply discriminate his way into forced integration. It was simpler, and necessary, to do what his own parents had done: keep his head down, appear as French as possible, and pass on what he could to his own children in the hopes that when they were grown they would see the true acceptance once promised to them and could observe their faith however freely they wished.</p>
<p>“But that means—shit. Booker we missed Rosh Hashanah and everything earlier this year, right?”</p>
<p>“Yes, but it’s okay. I tend to just mark the holidays on my own, rather than with our whole group, and we were split up on different missions then anyways.”</p>
<p>He still didn’t know how to explain to them that trying to do some big celebration together too often felt hollow and wrong somehow. The religion and its traditions were some of the only things that hadn’t fundamentally changed over the past 200 years, and yet talking about it with others, even after learning how to manage his grief, was still like pushing on a bruise.</p>
<p>They couldn’t know what it felt like to see all the ways things <em>didn’t</em> get much better in time for his children. How in the end it didn’t even matter, because instead of passing down traditions and prayers to the next generation, he was the one left to light yahrzeit candles on the anniversary of their deaths. How it felt a bit odd to celebrate history that Andy had lived through. The concept of commemorating the Maccabees when for all he knew Andy could have fought with them simultaneously made him want to double over laughing and also never think about it ever again. So it was better, and hurt less, to simply celebrate differently—more privately. He made it to synagogue every once and he tried to mark the holidays when he could. And it was enough.</p>
<p>“Tell her about the time we did try to help you celebrate,” Nicky called.</p>
<p>Booker groaned letting his head fall back against the couch while Joe and Nicky cackled, partly stepping into the living room to hear and also force Booker to tell the story.</p>
<p>“What? What happened?” Nile asked looking between them.</p>
<p>“It was what? Not long after I first joined you guys?”</p>
<p>“Yeah because Joe was still in his woodcarving phase,” Nicky said, grinning</p>
<p>“Right,” Booker said, sitting back up. “We were in the middle of nowhere and Joe very kindly wanted to help me do something for Hanukkah. So he found a good piece of wood and he carved wells for candles along the top of it to make a sort of makeshift menorah.”</p>
<p>“And it turned out great!" Joe added, only sounding slightly defensive.</p>
<p>Bookers moth twitched as he agreed. “Oh, it was great. Except, being wood, it was also very flammable.”</p>
<p>Nile caught on to where the story was going, clapping her hand over her mouth do hide her smile. “Oh no. Did… did it—”</p>
<p>“Catch on fire? Yes. The entire menorah went up in flames as soon as the candles burned low enough,” Booker said. If he thought hard enough, he could remember the absolute look of panic on Joe’s face as looked over to see the suddenly much larger flame overtaking his handiwork. “Keep in mind that this also happened on night one, so we had no menorah and a charred spot on the table for the rest of the holiday.”</p>
<p>Nile and Quỳnh laughed and Nicky lost it again too, heading back into the kitchen to laugh so he could avoid Joe’s glare.</p>
<p>“Only you would almost cause a house fire via a DIY menorah,” Andy said. “If I recall correctly, I suggested you not do that but no, we had to be festive.”</p>
<p>“Well, do you want to risk it and do anything with all of us this year?” Nile asked once she recovered. “We could at least play some Hanukkah music since that can’t catch on fire.”</p>
<p>He smiled at her. “If that means having to hear any of you serenade me with ‘I Have a Little Dreidel’ I think I’ll pass.”</p>
<p>“No no no. I mean, we will definitely do that, but there’s whole playlists online we could use.”</p>
<p>“Really?” There was Ma’oz Tzur and maybe a small handful of songs in Hebrew or made for children he had heard over the years, but enough for a whole playlist? Nile was already reaching for her phone, though, and she nodded.</p>
<p>“Oh yeah. One of the women in my unit was Jewish. You can’t put chocolate gelt in a care package headed to a desert or light candles in your tent, so she went hardcore into Hanukkah music instead. She got our whole friend group into playing dreidel, so she’d put it on in the evenings when we did that. I have to say, even as a non-Jew, it was catchy.”</p>
<p>She pushed play on her phone and incredible cheery music began playing as a man began to sing.</p>
<p>
  <em>I’m spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Wearing sandals, lighting candles by the sea</em>
</p>
<p>He froze for a moment, listening to what was very much not any sort of Hebrew prayer and when he got to the line that said <em>amid the California flora I’ll be lighting my menorah</em> he burst out laughing, making Nile pause it.</p>
<p>“Do you like it?”</p>
<p>“Oh yes, I just,” he let out another snort, “I just wasn’t expecting it to be like that, but I love it. Are there more like that?”</p>
<p>She nodded, pushing play again and an acapella Hanukkah parody of Feliz Navidad began playing, the line <em>I wanna wish you a Chag Sameach</em> repeating a few times.</p>
<p>Booker laughed again and next to him Quỳnh nodded her head along to the beat. “I have a feeling we will all be stuck listening to this playlist for the next few days,” she said, nudging Andy.</p>
<p>Andy just rolled her eyes, intentionally ignoring all of them in favor of cleaning her axe.</p>
<p>Nile paused the music scrolling on her phone to find another example until she let out a little gasp. “Oooo wait let me play this one, This was one of the ones I remember the group liking the best. You know the actor Adam Sandler? He has a few versions of a song that just lists famous Jews.”</p>
<p>“Why? That isn’t really about Hanukkah then, is it?”</p>
<p>“Well, it is called the Hanukkah song. I think it’s partly so Jewish kids have some representation but also Adam Sandler is just weird like that. Here, I’ll play the most recent version.”</p>
<p>
  <em>Put on your yarmulke, here comes Chanukah</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>So much fun-ukah to celebrate Chanukah</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Chanukah is the Festival of Lights</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>When you feel like the only kid in town without a Christmas tree,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Here's the fourth list of people who are Jewish, just like Jesus, Olaf, Punky Brewster, Scott Rudin and me!</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Joseph Gordon-Levitt enjoys eating Kugel</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>So do Stan Lee, Jake Gyllenhaal, and the two guys who founded Google…</em>
</p>
<p>The song continued, literally listing Jews exactly as Nile had said it did in the silliest possible manner.</p>
<p>“Fun, right?” she asked</p>
<p>“Absolutely ridiculous, but yes.” He didn’t know half the people mentioned but the intent behind it was fun, even if it still wasn’t exactly about Hanukkah.</p>
<p>“Wait,” he said as the song drew to a close. “Did he just say <em>drink your Jaegerbomb-ukah</em>?”</p>
<p>“Yes, he did” Nile said grinning at him. “In the other versions he says marijuan-ukah.”</p>
<p>He laughed, both at the song and her joy in telling him about it. “I’ll have to listen to those too then.”</p>
<p>“You definitely have to. Also I need you to listen to the one I personally find the most hilarious.”</p>
<p> “More than Adam Sandler?</p>
<p>“This one is by a group called Boyz II Menorah so yes.” She started the song, eyebrows raised as if he was about to challenge her assessment.</p>
<p>
  <em>Girl, it's that special time of year</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The festival of lights</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>But ain't no light shine brighter</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Than the one in your eyes…</em>
</p>
<p>It got better, meaning that really, it got worse, from there. By the time it got to the bridge he was almost in tears and Nile couldn’t stop giggling, the line <em>Girl,</em> <em>Baruch atah Ado-know how you do it </em>utterly doing her in.</p>
<p>That was also the line that made Andy involuntarily snort turned to look up at Booker “Ever try flirting in Hebrew?”</p>
<p>“With the blessing that they are currently butchering? No.”</p>
<p>“There are certainly others that are less sacrilegious if that’s more your speed. I’ll text this to you if you want to listen to any of them. I think most are targeted for the American Jewish experience but hopefully they’ll still be fun.”</p>
<p>“Thank you, Nile, I’ll listen some more this evening.”</p>
<p>“Tell me what you think. Although, there’s one I think we didn’t get to that we probably should have.”</p>
<p>“Oh?”</p>
<p>With a smirk she started singing. “I have a little dreidel, I made it out of clay. And when it’s dry and ready, then dreidel I will play.”</p>
<p>As if on cue, he heard Nicky and Joe come in for the chorus. “Oh! Dreidel dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay!” Joe peeked his head around the corner, as shit-eating grin on his face. It was pay-back for the menorah story and he knew it.</p>
<p>They went into the next verse, Quỳnh beginning to clap along. He stared at Nile, completely unimpressed, which only made her sing louder. He turned to Andy, hoping to find some sympathy but she looked like she was trying not to laugh. When they made eye contact, she raised an eyebrow and began singing along with the rest of them.</p>
<p>“You too, Boss? Really?”</p>
<p>She smiled at him. “At least nothing is on fire.”</p>
<p>He groaned, heaving himself off the couch to try and escape, though the teasing didn’t really stop until Joe, Nicky, and Nile went out for the supply run, putting an end to the sing-a-long.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>                                                                            ***********************************</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Later that night when everyone had broken off to do their own thing, he put in his earbuds and started to scroll though the playlist Nile had sent him.</p>
<p>He went through all four of Adam Sandler’s songs first, impressed by all the possible alcohol and marijuana combinations he made rhyme with Hanukkah.</p>
<p>There were lots of parodies, most of which he didn’t recognize, the one exception being a medley of <em>Hamilton</em> parodies. Nile had made them all listen to the musical solely because she wanted to hear them scream about historical inaccuracy, and so the line <em>“What’s your name man? Judah Judah Maccabee!</em>” earned a small laugh. There was actually a surprising amount of rap on the playlist, with another song solely dedicated to rapping about wanting a puppy for Hanukkah.</p>
<p>He got to some of the more traditional ones Nile had mentioned, too. There was Ma’oz Tzur, Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah, another song semi in Spanish called Ocho Kandelikas. That song led straight into another one by the same singer. It was very short and at first it seemed like some sort of outro song until she started singing the Hanukkah blessing and he realized it was a cute little piece of her son trying to repeat it after her. The Hebrew was butchered in the cutest baby voice, the syllables smoothed over into a few basic sounds as he tried to imitate what she was saying.</p>
<p>It didn’t sound that much different from the way his own children had learned. He had a distinct flash of memory of Jean-Pierre similarly fumbling over the words he was parroting, Isabelle’s infinite patience shining through as she gently corrected him with a laugh, helping him practice as she fried up some dough. And then that night Jean-Pierre was able to “help” him light the menorah, clapping in excitement after he had made it all the way through the blessing.</p>
<p>Hanukkah was a bit different now, much more commercialized and a bigger deal than when he was doing it with his family, but he would like to think they all still would have enjoyed it. Isabelle might have been scandalized by some of the music, but the more traditional songs she would have sang along to. And the boys would have loved the humor of the Hanukkah Songs, especially when they had been young. There were so many other trappings now too, the dreidel wrapping paper and jewelry he had seen at the end of holiday aisles in a few stores, the ugly sweater Nicky had threatened to buy him once a while ago that said Happy Challah-days in glittery blue lettering on the front.</p>
<p>There was an easy sort of pride and fun that went along with things now, something that his recent lack of knowledge about modern Hanukkah music signaled that maybe he was missing out on in his desire to keep everything at arm’s length. Maybe, then, he would make some sufganiyot to share with Nile as a thank you for sharing the playlist, ask Nicky to help him make a more formal latke meal instead of just lighting the candles on his own, and try to ease himself past the ache into something new, but no less meaningful.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>                                                                                    ************************************</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He was up early the next morning and making his coffee when Nile walked in. He grabbed a second mug and poured her some, and she grabbed it with one hand, giving him a small smile of thanks, the other behind her back.</p>
<p>“What are you hiding back there?”</p>
<p>She waggled her eyebrows at him. “Oh I don’t know, maybe it's a gift I picked up during the supply run.”</p>
<p>“For me?”</p>
<p>“Well, technically for all of us unless you like gambling alone.” She removed her hand from behind her back revealing a large wooden dreidel. She set it on the counter, giving it a good spin, before she looked back up at him.</p>
<p>I know it’s still a few nights early but,” she shrugged, hesitating for a brief moment before charging forward, “The holidays can be hard. So this way if you decide you do want to do something with other people you have options.”</p>
<p>Looked down at where the dreidel had stopped spinning, coming to rest on the lucky gimel. He hadn’t played in a long, long time but he could already envision the chaos of getting the team to play. “Thank you, Nile. I think I might take you up on that."</p>
<p> “I will warn you, I got very good at it while deployed,” she joked.</p>
<p>He rolled his eyes at her. “Except it’s a game of complete luck. Unless you want to try and claim it’s somehow about your spin technique?”</p>
<p>“I would, but I think you would argue about it,” she laughed, taking a few sips of her coffee before moving to grab a plate and start on breakfast. He did the same, setting down his mug by the dreidel so he could grab a pan.</p>
<p>“Can I assume then that Christmas has also been rough for you?” he eventually asked her as he gathered ingredients to make them all pancakes.</p>
<p>“Yeah. I suppose I could talk to Nicky about it or go to Christmas Eve services with him or something but…”</p>
<p>“It’s not the same.”</p>
<p>“No. It’s really not.” She sighed, scooting over so he could have better access to the stove. “Does it get easier though? Eventually?”</p>
<p>He gathered his thoughts for a moment before he nodded. “I think so, though there's a lot of trial and error. I tried to recreate everything the first year or two and then just tried to ignore all of it completely, neither of which was a well thought out decision. And…I think I’m just now realizing that trying to just do it myself since the others don’t quite understand may not be the answer either.” He looked up at her with a half-smile. “As you can see, I may not be the best person to be asking for advice.”</p>
<p>She let out a snort. “I asked Andy a while ago and she just said to hold on to what’s most important and make new traditions around it which clearly,” she gestured between the two of them “is a lot easier said than done.”</p>
<p>He nodded. “Not bad advice though. Andy knows what she’s talking about.”</p>
<p>“Of course I do!” her voice came in from the hallway, making both of them jump. She entered the kitchen and poured her own cup of coffee before noticing the dreidel.</p>
<p>“Are we playing this week?”</p>
<p>“Only if you’re prepared to lose,” he said with a smirk. “And speaking of Hanukkah: You should know that you play a vital role in the Hanukkah Song Part 4.”</p>
<p>Andy stared at him, unamused. “And how is that?”</p>
<p>He looked over at Nile who was trying not to laugh as he sang. “We may not have a cartoon with a reindeer that can talk. But we also don’t have polio thanks to Doctor Jonas Salk, Smart Jew!”</p>
<p>Andy groaned. “I haven’t had enough coffee for this. Nile, you have created a monster.”</p>
<p>Booker ignored her, continuing his explanation. “And didn’t one of us save a relative of Jonas Salk’s, therefore allowing him to exist and help end polio?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, we did. You can look at Copley’s notes. But if you want to force us into a song, have it be something with the Maccabees. They were really cool when I met them.”</p>
<p>He stared at her, trying to figure out which question to ask first but having a hard time because the statement seemed to have short-circuited his brain.</p>
<p>Andy burst out laughing, looking back and forth at his and Nile’s expressions. “That was a joke, oh God your faces. Sorry, I really wasn’t trying to throw either of you into a crisis. No, Booker I think actually instead of anything Hanukkah related you should teach me the nosh some hamantaschen song. That song, wait, what’s the descriptor Nile?”</p>
<p>“Slaps?”</p>
<p>“Yes! That song slaps. I love the passive aggressiveness of it. How about this: If I win at dreidel you have to teach it to me and also make me donuts.”</p>
<p>“Fine. It’s on, Boss.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>                                                                                    ***************************************</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Most of them were slightly tipsy by the time they started to play, and rather than gelt, there were coins from no less than five different currencies on the table. Booker wasn’t doing well, but at least he wasn’t Andy who was the first one out after she kept spinning an unfortunate series of nuns and shins.</p>
<p>This was also why Andy was threatening to kill him and Nicky, with Joe and Quỳnh trying to remind her that this was a time of <em>hope</em> and <em>joy</em>  until she finally backed off, resigning herself to being bested by a top.</p>
<p>The next to spin was Nile who cackled as took the whole pot, reviving a kick from Joe in retribution after he seemingly forgot his own speech about joy and hope.</p>
<p>Another few turns and Booker was out too, and so he and Andy simply watched the chaos unfold in the most intense game of dreidel that may have ever been played. They both started making completely unhelpful sports announcer-style commentary during each spin, which only resulted in everyone else yelling at them to shut the fuck up.</p>
<p>He caught Nile’s eye right before she rolled, and she grinned at him releasing the dreidel into a perfect spin.</p>
<p>“Annnddd the dreidel is officially in play!” he called. “Will Freeman be able to take out the rest of the competition the way she so spectacularly bested the team captain? Oh it’s slowing, coming to a stop and… IT”S ANOTHER HEI! Not bad at all Nile, maybe you could give Andy some pointers.”</p>
<p>Andy’s glare caused him to burst out laughing, which in turn caused Joe to yell that he had distracted him and disrupted his spin. An argument quickly broke out about whether re-spins were allowed, and Nicky was setting himself to win it solely by chucking coins at everyone’s heads.</p>
<p>He let the argument play our around him, laughing as he tried to dodge any projectiles and as he raised his arms to protect his face, he felt grateful for small miracles.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>My current plan is to make this fic part one of a two part series where the next part is Nile similarly trying to shake the holiday blues at Christmas, so stay tuned.</p>
<p>Here are all the songs referenced in order of appearance:<br/>Hanukkah in Santa Monica by Tom Leher<br/>Feliz Chanukah by Six13<br/>Hanukkah Song Part 4 by Adam Sandler<br/>A Week and a Day by Boyz II Menorah and The Late Late Show with James Corden<br/>I Have a Little Dreidel<br/>A Hamilton by Chanukah by Six13<br/>Puppy for Hanukkah by Daveed Diggs<br/>Ma'oz Tzur, the version I play is by Leslie Odom Junior<br/>Hanukah Oh Hanukkah, the version I play is from the Glee Cast<br/>Ocho Kandelikas by Idina Menzel<br/>Walker's 3rd Hanukkah by Idina Menzel</p>
<p>The historical references in this fic are built on my slightly sketchy memory of my modern Jewish history class. If you're interested in learning more, the primary sources I was thinking about when writing this are as follows, all of which are in Mendes-FLohr and Reinharz's textbook The Jew in the Modern World a Documentary History:<br/>Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (August 26, 1789), Debate on The Eligibility of Jews for Citizenship (December 23, 1789), and The Emancipation of the Jews of France (September 28, 1791), all of which are from The French National Assembly, and The "Infamous Decree" (1808) by Napoleon Bonaparte.</p>
<p>The wooden menorah story is unfortunately based on the true story of my father's valiant attempt to turn a piece of driftwood into a menorah when we were traveling over the holidays. So please celebrate responsibly! I'm wishing you all a very happy holiday season, even if it looks a little different this year.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>